The Hapgood family was a large one – Wiliam Hapgood and his wife Clara Rose (nee Newton) had eight children, and took a great group family photo with the first 7 kids which is a family classic.

They moved to Kin Kin Queensland around 1910 and William built a classic Queenslander house for the family with a wide verandah all around. Olga Hapgood (the youngest child) was a prolific writer and wrote up the story of her life at “Sunshine Valley” and describes life on the farm at Kin Kin.

There is also a similar photo of the Hapgood farm in the “Kin Kin Schools Past and Present” book, although the clarity is reduced because it of the print resolution in the book [1]. Crucially it gives the more recent name of the property as “Bungunya Park”.

Using this information, I found that house was sold in 2018 so there are reasonably recent realestate photos online [2] and its modern address is 921 Pomona Kin Kin Road, Kin Kin, Qld, 4571. Its set on 64 hectares, or 160 acres. The house was built from local timbers, and includes 5 inch wide hoop pine floorboards, and about 20 of the 100 year old fruit trees still survive. Its clear that her full glory is a bit faded, including the lush ferny front garden, but there is still potential….

The listing description (slightly edited) is:

BUNGUNYAH PARK – 160 ACRES OF PARADISE
Bungunyah Park is 160 acres of paradise with pockets of rainforest, 1 km of permanent creek with swimming holes and grazing paddocks, and able to sustain 45 breeder cattle with calves in all seasons with a wide variety of native and improved pasture. The property has 3 dams, multiple areas to grow crops/vegetables and many suitable house sites. Previously this was a working dairy farm until the 1980’s. A historic landmark property with significant areas of natural beauty. Undulating and flat land with tracks to traverse most of the land.

A hardwood weatherboard house built over 100 years ago from local timber comprises 3 bedrooms plus sleep-out with 5″ hoop pine polished floorboards. This home would absolutely soar if renovated to the standard it deserves. A total refurbishment of this Grand Old Lady would certainly provide a very substantial and enduring home in which to enjoy a total lifestyle and tree change. There are stables, cattle yards, and sheds but all have seen better days and would either need to be repaired or replaced. 20 x 100 year old mango trees, a fenced orchard with multiple varieties of fruit trees and swales planted per permaculture principles. No chemicals on the farm for over 20 years being run using biodynamic and organic principles. 4 x large stands of clumping bamboo stand tall and have been used for building purposes and to eat the shoots.

Update: In Augsut 2020, my Dad told me his Grandfather William bought the Kin Kin farm for 114 pounds, all in cash and all in one go — and that Col Seymour (husband of Olga Hapgood) still had the cheque stub! (Does anyone from Olga’s family have a photo of the cheque stub that you can share?)

In the 1960s, the house was moved further back up the block about 20 ft and the back kitchen was cut off to make the house a bit smaller. This might explain the 1960s besser blocks instead of stumps under the house. His Grandfather used to lament that it cost as much or more to cut the house in half as it did to buy it! Olga Hapgood gives a lot more detail in her memoirs (see next post)

[1] Kin Kin Schools Past and Present by JD Dale, 1991. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8412964?q&versionId=45879845

[2] Real estate advertisement 2018 Sold for $700,000 https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-other-qld-kin+kin-7858654

[3] May 2018 Listing Description https://www.propertyvalue.com.au/property/921-pomona-kin-kin-road-kin-kin-qld-4571/5404419